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Top 6 Symbols to Bring a Workplace Good Luck

The way the economy works these days, employees need every little bit of help they can get. You never know when you will be downsized, outsourced or merged right out of your livelihood. Even being an incredibly productive and loyal worker is no guarantee of hanging onto a good job for life. Little totems, icons and talismans judged by some to bring good luck probably won’t be enough, either, but they probably can’t hurt. If you admit to being a little superstitious, decorating your workspace with these traditional good luck symbols could, at the very least, lend you a sense of confidence that just may translate into becoming an employee too vital to lose.

Nazar Boncuğu

Ever get the feeling that one of your co-workers is plotting against you? Do they give you the evil eye whenever the boss compliments you? Decorate the area in which you work with theNazar Boncuğuin, a traditional totem of good luck from the Middle East that specifically protects against the bad luck of the evil eye. If this blue sphere with a somewhat menacing eye in the middle is looked upon unfavorably by supervisors, then ask if it would be okay to simply add some blue to the color scheme. Blue, whether in the form of the Nazar Boncuğu eye or not, is considered a lucky color in both the Jewish and Muslim traditions.

Frogs

If you prefer not to be thought of as the superstition crank, find a delicate little decorative frog to place inconspicuously somewhere. Frogs are totems of good luck for a number of reasons. Americans are likely more familiar with the concept of a frog actually being a handsome prince in disguise that proved to be a very lucky creature indeed for a certain young lady who took a crazy chance and kissed it. Less familiar may be frog’s standing as a talisman of safe travel and abundance financial returns in the Japanese culture.

Ladybugs

Surely, no one would object to your decorating your cubicle or counter with an assortment of ladybugs, right? You certainly don’t need to tell anyone that your sudden obsession with ladybugs is directly related to medieval prayers to the Virgin Mary to bring relief to widespread crop devastation. Those prayers were allegedly answered in the form of beetles eager to feast upon the destructive aphids. In thanks for this amazing show of good luck, people started referring to those particular beetles as ladybugs in honor of the lady who sent them.

Garlic

Unless your exposure to the vampire myth is limited to the post-sparkling incarnations, you probably know that garlic is good luck for avoiding vampires. It is a totem of good luck in the form of warding off the bloodsucking creates of the night. The terrific thing about decorating your work area with braids of knotted garlic bulbs is that it can provide not just a mythic form of luck but a very concrete one. Use garlic to keep mythological bloodsuckers away as well as those office vampires who suck all your time, energy and attention. Decorate with enough garlic and even those who otherwise love Italian cuisine will not be so eager to become a bad moon rising over the horizon of your cubicle wall.

White Heather

What could possibly be luckier than a patch of land on a battlefield where no warrior was killed? According to the Scottish tradition of superstition, those fortunate patches of battlefield are where the rarest heather of all grows. Of course, another tradition suggests that white heather actually grows to mark the spot of the death of faeries. You can find other origin stories for why white heather has become a good luck symbol, but really none of them matter too much. What does matter is that whether white heather actually brings you good luck or not, it makes for a very pretty decorating touch and will almost certainly make any workplace smell better. Perhaps better enough to make your boss stop by for a little small talk more often.

Horse Shoe

Of course, you don’t need to stop with these more offbeat and unusual symbols said to bring on good luck. If your boss happens to be crazy about horses, who’s to say whether that promotion you got was the result of the good luck brought by hanging an antique horseshoe above your workstation or not?

That’s the thing about decorating with good luck symbols. They almost certainly won’t hurt and their potential for helping is incalculable.

What good luck symbols can you think of to add to our list? Comment below!